A 15-year-old girl who fatally shot her 16-year-old brother suffered years of abuse, including being locked in a room for weeks at a time with only a blanket and a bucket to use the bathroom, according to police reports and interviews.

The shooting at a small white house off a dirt road in rural north Florida happened Monday while the children’s parents were away for work. The father, a truck driver, and his wife, who often goes with him, left the 16-year-old boy to watch over the 15-year-old, her 11-year-old sister and their 3-year-old sister, police said. The parents left Sunday and were due back Tuesday.

Sometime Monday, the 15-year-old girl was locked in her room by her brother, police said. After the boy fell asleep, she talked her 11-year-old sister into unlocking her door.

The older girl then went outside and used a knife to remove an air conditioner from her parents’ bedroom window. She climbed in while her 11-year-old sister kept watch and grabbed a handgun, police said.

The girl went back inside the house, telling her young sisters to get in the closet, she told police. She turned her head and fired at her sleeping brother in the living room, and he screamed “Help! Help!”

She buried her head in a pillow for a while and upon returning to the living room, the girl found her 3-year-old sister trying to wake her dead brother, according to the police report.

She fled with her 11-year-old sister, leaving the 3-year-old behind, police said.

“It’s hard for us to get our arms around this act,” Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter said. “This is the stuff nightmares are made of.”

Police caught up with the girls after a friend of theirs received a “weird phone call” from the 11-year-old girl, saying she had run away and needed someone to pick her up from a Dollar General, according to a police report. When the woman arrived, she found the older sister there, too.

The older girl said something might have been wrong with another sibling at home. As she spoke, she applied makeup and “would not maintain eye contact and appeared emotionless,” officers wrote in a police report.

She soon started crying and told the officers that her brother had beaten her and that she had shot him.

When officers arrived at the home, the 3-year-old said: “he’s dead.” The brother’s body was lying near the fireplace, under a blanket with his head on a pillow.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting.

The girls’ mother told police that they often locked the 15-year-old girl up when she misbehaved. The longest they kept her locked in her room was 20 consecutive days, the father told police.

In the girl’s room, police found only a blanket and a bucket filled with urine in the closet.

“It was learned that (the 15-year-old girl) has made past attempts at ending her life but neither law enforcement nor (emergency management services) was notified,” police wrote in their report.

The girls are in being held in juvenile detention on suspicion of murder, and a prosecutor is trying to decide whether they will be charged as adults. Their parents face charges of child neglect and failing to supervise.

The 3-year-old is in the custody of child welfare officials.

Police documents released Wednesday said the girl’s uncle was convicted of molesting her in 2010. They also say the children’s mother discovered the siblings having sex in 2011. Authorities and child welfare officials investigated, but no one was charged.

An 8-year-old boy was critically injured when he was accidentally shot in the head by his 9-year-old sister in DeLand on Wednesday evening, according to police.

The girl “somehow obtained a handgun that belonged to a parent” and was handling it when it discharged, grazing the boy in the head, police said.pic

The boy was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital. While police originally said the boy suffered non-life threatening injuries, further information revealed that the boy was actually struck by the bullet as opposed to just grazed, said DeLand police Sgt. Chris Estes.

The shooting occurred around 6:30 p.m. at a home in the 600 block of South Parsons Avenue.

There were three other children – all under 10 – also in the home alone at the time of the incident and were uninjured, said Estes.

Estes said two teenagers – 19 and 15 – were supposed to be watching the children but had gone to a nearby store and were on the way back when the incident occurred.

The ​fictional character Slender Man is reportedly the inspiration of yet another violent crime.

Authorities say a 14-year-old girl set her Port Richey, Florida, home on fire while her mother and young brother were sleeping inside in an effort to please Slender Man.

The incident reportedly took place after the girl had an argument with her mother. Her mother woke up in time to get her son out of the home and said she later received text messages from her daughter admitting to setting the fire.

The girl told authorities she was motivated by a Slender Man website and was also inspired by the two Wisconsin girls who allegedly attempted to stab their friend to death.

What is it about this fiction figure that’s prompting so much violence?

The Slender Man websites and social media pages depict the character as mythical and villain-like. Those pages include some pretty creepy language that encourages violence.

However, after these recent child crimes, a lot of those same sites are including disclaimers saying that it is all fictional and that the site is meant for adults.

Most experts agree that viewing violent websites is not good for childhood development.

And a study published in Pediatrics shows young people who are exposed to violent forms of media are much more likely to exhibit violent behavior themselves.

“First, the Slender Man wiki gathers urban legends describing the character and gathers Internet users who want to talk about him. Also, an entire page on the site Creepypasta rounds up eerie photographs and myths about Slender Man. Finally, you may see Slender Man tied to the viral online book ‘Soul Eater.'”

The Florida girl has been charged with arson and two counts of attempted murder. Local authorities have not said whether she’ll be charged as an adult.

Michael Propst, who is accused of stealing two different school busses, is now charged with another count of grand theft auto. When talking with Springfield Police, they think Propst’s home life is making him lash out by stealing these vehicles.

“Juvenile Justice called and told me ‘In case you’re not aware, he’s on the loose again.” That’s what Springfield Police Chief Philip Thorne said he faced first thing Thursday morning.

Michael Propst, who’s previously been charged with stealing two school buses, was now accused of stealing a 1990 Chevy truck from a neighbor.

Thorne added, “I talked to DJJ for a few minutes and then I checked. Said ‘Not again,” and then I saw our reports and had a chance to get with the Assistant Chief who had been briefed and was able to find out what all had transpired.”

Authorities first arrested Propst in June for allegedly stealing a school bus from a home in Parker and driving it to Panama City Beach.

He served 21 days in Juvenile Detention.

The day after his release, police say Propst stole his mother’s car, then another school bus from Parker Elementary School. They found him driving that bus in Eastpoint in Franklin County.

Propst completed another 21 day detention period on Tuesday.

Wednesday night, investigators said he cut off his ankle monitor and then tried to steal his mother’s car again. When that failed, he walked to a neighbor’s house, tried to steal a go-cart, then succeeded in stealing a truck.

Through Facebook, authorities determined Propst was on his way to Dothan to meet a friend. Chief Thorne added, “So we alerted Jackson County and Alabama authorities to assist us and early this morning we got a call.”

Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Propst in Campbellton. They said he’d just left a friend’s house and was heading toward the state line.

Thorne said, “He has been interviewed and he has admitted to attempting to steal his mother’s car. He’s admitted to, at the house where the truck was stolen, prior to stealing the truck, he actually went into the garage, committed a burglary going into the garage an attempted to steal a go-cart.”

Police think there are personal issues that are causing this behavior.

Thorne added, “We’ve got a young man that apparently has, not only some emotional problems of his own, but apparently has some home issues and this is the only way he lash out is to. When he’s facing something he doesn’t like, he lashes out by running and stealing things. We’ve tried asking him to see if there’s something, and I would hope and assume that somebody at DJJ, while he’s been incarcerated, would have tried to counsel him, but apparently he’s not ready to open up to whatever his issues are and seek help or seek change.”

Propst is due before a judge tomorrow, who will most likely order him held for another 21 days.

Authorities ordered him held by the Department of Juvenile Justice for 21 days. “He was released from custody Tuesday and stole another bus,” Jones said.

It all began around 7 a.m. Wednesday. The bus driver parked the bus at Parker Elementary School and hid the keys somewhere inside the bus.

“We learned through Springfield Police Department that a juvenile had stolen a car in their city and had apparently driven it to the area of Parker Schools,” Parker Police Chief Charles Sweat said.

According to deputies, the car was stolen from one of Propst’s family members.

“It just used for the purpose, or appears to be used, just for a mode of transportation. To get here to the area of Parker Schools to steal another bus.” Sweat said.

Officials say he drove from Parker all the way to Franklin County. That’s more than 75 miles, or an hour-and-a-half drive.

Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, Franklin County Deputies began receiving calls about an erratic school bus driver. A deputy pulled over the bus and found Propst behind the wheel. Jones said, “He told him that somebody had loaned him the bus or gave him the bus. That was the story last time. One of my friends gave me the bus. Twelve years old, it’s hard to believe. He was in trouble last time, but he’s in serious trouble this time.”

Sweat adds, “The legislature needs to change some of the guidelines as far as holding juveniles whenever the commit multiple and numerous felonies.”

Jones assures the public that something like this will not happen again. New procedures are already in place. He said, “That won’t happen no more. There won’t be any keys hidden on any buses.”

Police are still looking for the car Propst supposedly stole from a family member.

Two teenaged boys were arrested Thursday night for impersonating law enforcement, a felony, but their family says it was all just a prank.

The teens, Angel Torres Jr., 17 and Christian Jose Iturbe, 16, both of Cape Coral are accused of attempting to use high beam red and blue flashing lights from a smartphone to pull over a driver in North Cape Coral.

It happened on Chiquita Boulevard North. A driver called police and told them a vehicle behind him was flashing red and blue lights across the front windshield, and he began to stop because he thought an unmarked police car was pulling him over.

The driver realized as the vehicle got closer to him that it was a Nissan Altima and that made him feel unsure if it was really a police officer behind him. So, he called police and gave them the license plate number.

Police found the suspect’s vehicle as it made a moving violation so they stopped it. At that time, Torres was driving and Iturbe was the front seat passenger, and police discovered they used a combination of flashing their car’s high beams and used a Youtube video of flashing red and blue lights on Iturbe’s cell phone, according to police.

Cape police said: “…this particular case looks to be a criminally stupid prank”- but added that cases like it can be dangerous.

“Impersonators can have dangerous motives for trying to stop members of the public, and impersonators like this shake public confidence and make people second guess real police officers conducting legitimate law enforcement duties,” said CCPD Sergeant Dana Coston.

Back at the police station, police say Torres’ mother was creating a scene and had to be detained. She told officers her son was a rising soccer star and couldn’t afford to get in trouble.

Police say they should have thought of that before deciding to commit a felony.

We went to both of the teens’ homes, and spoke with Torres’ mother by phone, who said she believes the boys meant no harm.

Police say the man who the teens pulled over did everything right by calling 911 with he noticed something was amiss.